Predator
by Myurra-K
Summary: Eighteen finds herself feeling things she doesn't understand. When Krillen finds her, there is a lot more that he has to fill her in on, including something that she never thought would have happened. Why is it she didn't know of any of it? K18


**Predator**

_~`;'~_

[fic.001 - 100FandomHellion's challenge]

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The question is 'why?'. Why would someone like her chose to become what she did? The answer is that she didn't. She was born that way, at least, as far as she can remember.

No, come to think of it, she could remember further.

She could remember needles, insistent beeping and brainwashing words. Pain washed over her as her body was tampered with, metal and wires inserted into her being. Forced into unconsciousness one moment to wake up the next and realise something was different, something wasn't right with your body. Did anyone other than her brother and herself know what that was like?

What it was like to be a normal teenager messing around with your twin brother in the family home one day only to be missing the next and re-emerge several years later as a killing machine. Facing people like Vegeta on the battle field, who pointed accusations toward her that she was completely synthetic, that there wasn't an ounce of humanity in her left.

No wonder she turned out the way she did.

The good doctor's words washed over her mind like water, only her brain wasn't the sponge he had planned it to be. Words were nothing. It was her brother's convincing words that changed her. Her brother, whom she fondly knew as seventeen now, would talk to her when the doctor wasn't listening. He would talk to her, comfort her through her pain.

It was the doubt in her mind still that gave her the ability to listen. Just as it was the doubt in her mind that provoked her to act weaker than she was, to allow her brother that supremacy he needed. She cared for her brother, even if she was a machine.

That's right, a machine. She wasn't human anymore. She had been once, and all humanity she was grasping at was lost when she made her first kill other than Doctor Gero. Then again, that was her brother's doing. As soon as she set foot on the ground outside the lair, her senses burst to life, and she was overcome with the programmed desire to destroy.

Now that she thought about it, she was playing into Gero's hands. That beast currently rotting in hell had only one desire, to destroy Goku and take over the earth. He wanted to see the planet crumble beneath his creations. And that was exactly what he was getting, even if he was dead.

What was she going to do now that she knew that? Her brother knew that she didn't have a desire to kill. Ever since Cell she had lost her appetite for destruction, her hunger for chaos. Her circuitry must be scrambled. There was no way that an android was able to feel for a human race beneath hers.

It was that one sentence that made her jolt and her insides fizzle with something. Something anyone else would have passed off as electricity. But for her, she knew what it was. An emotion. She couldn't remember what exactly an emotion felt like, or how to tell if one was experiencing one. Her fascination with colour and anything that moved was a sensory thing, her love for destruction was a program.

So how did she know she was feeling an emotion?

Because she could sense it in him. The man shorter than herself, bald head and a whole lot of muscle. He had saved her life and defended it on more than one occasion. He stood beside her. She tried to tell herself that he was simply baiting her, trying to convince her to give in and show her human side before he would snatch it beneath her and allow her to cave in beneath him. Beneath the weight of her grieving.

That was when she realised she was experiencing her first emotion. Fear.

It all simmered down to the fact she was afraid of being hurt. She didn't want to be hurt no matter what it cost her. And that was another emotion, protectiveness. Vegeta had once said that a machine couldn't feel. She had detected those same emotional patterns in the rest of the Z-fighters, she knew what was what.

Staring into the mirror before her, her icy-blue eyes piercing her reflection. Her blonde hair fell around her face neatly, framing her pale complexion. Anyone could see she was a fighter from her physique. Anyone could tell she wasn't normal by looking at her eyes, the way they expressed nothing, the way they were simply 'there', they rarely blinked and were wide all the time, her pupils unfocused most of the time.

Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, she balled her hand into a tight fist, connecting it with the silvery glass. That must be the thirtieth glass item she had broken in the last hour. She watched it shatter before herself, glaring at the reflective shards casting light-flecks on the ceiling. It was then she noticed something.

Staring down at a shard by her feet, she seen the way the corners of her eyes twitched from apathy into an almost sad expression that looked akin to sympathy…pity…something she seen all the time on _his _face.

She hated that look, she didn't need his pity. Just because she was an android and the dragon couldn't change her back. Just because she couldn't feel everything that others could, couldn't have a relationship or a family…

A family…

She had never actually considered it before, having a family. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that musing on the past was usually painful, and in the current case it was angering. A strange sensation slithered down her spine, boiling down to something buried. Why was it she could feel something there? Something that she never noticed was there before? How come the word 'family' made her quiver with a strange sense of guilt and untruthfulness toward herself? She realised she was angry, she shouldn't be feeling guilt, she did nothing!

There was another emotion. Anger. Hate. Despise. They all parred with one another simply because she felt them all towards Docter Gero. That man had taken everything from her. From her family, her life and her soul to her free will and natural design. The one thing she remembered before her humanity was taken from her, was that she hated violence.

Coming back to the shattered mirror, she despised the look of anguish that crossed her face. When she seen how diced up her hand was anyway. Not only had she been drilling her palms with her nails but she had been gripping glass. That added to the injuries her surprisingly delicate skin took when she had broken nearly every window in the house prior as well as the mirror.

Sneering at her pettiness, she turned her back on the bathroom. Walking down the hallway of the empty house she now occupied, she approached the multi-pane glass at the end of the corridor. Raising her leg, the heel of her foot shattered through the center pane of the window. Lifting her leg higher, she broke through several other panes before she resulted to punching out the remaining three sheets. She felt so lazy, so...frustrated.

Suddenly, she was struck by the realism of the hot tears running down her cheeks. She had been crying and screaming as she went, not even noticing she had been. What was wrong with her? She was a machine, she couldn't feel, she couldn't cry. She wasn't even supposed to feel these bloody emotions. She was a predator, a predator to the weaker race.

"Eighteen, you in there? What happened to the house?" a voice shouted from the first floor. Eighteen groaned. Great, why did he have to show up? Of all people, why him? Why not send Vegeta or that bratty kid, Gohan? Why the hell would Krillen of all people have to be the one to find her. And HOW did he find her?!

The android heard the door on the lower floor open and close, the soft patting of foot-steps on the creaking boards shook her back into herself. She was an android right? Therefore they couldn't find her life-source by feeling for it right? That meant she could hide right? Right!

Gaining her bearings, she took a couple of hesitant steps backward, praying they didn't make a sound, before gently clicking the door behind her open and sliding in backwards. She nearly stumbled over the corner of a rug, swearing at herself under her breath for being so clumsy. Her eyes scanned the room around her, not finding anything to start with.

Then her eyes landed on the wooden wardrobe. Although rather obvious and extremely unoriginal, she crawled in, tucking her knees to her chest as she pulled a coat-arm out of the way of the rotting door-frame. Closing it slightly with a barely audible click, she shrunk back into the dusty corner, running her bloodied hands over her face, scratching furiously at the tears on her cheeks.

She breathed carefully so as to be able to hear other than herself. Something thudded in her chest, and she thought for a moment that it may have been her heart. Though she remembered she didn't have one. Her eyes adjusted to the dark space, finally noticing that there was a small line of light framing the double doors, the only light in the cupboard.

Thudding footsteps continued through the hall, glass was kicked and shuffled around, crackling under the small man's weight as he walked. The floorboards clacked and creaked as he walked, and she could have sworn she heard his foot go through the wood at one point. She could hear him murmuring something under his breath, probably about the damage she had done to her own house or the damage he had done to the hardwood floor. She was barely able to hear him.

"She must be really angry or upset to do something like this…or maybe she's just frustrated, but that doesn't explain why she…man what the hell am I still doing here? If she's any one of those, she'll rip my head of…well, I guess that's just me, deal with Goku most of your life and a moody woman isn't the worst of your problems." Krillen chuckled lightly at this. "Though she _may _have something to do with it." he said lightly.

"He doesn't know me, I'm an android, I can't feel any of those things." she muttered, though she sounded slightly more depressed than even she liked to admit. Her eyes flicked through the cracks of light again, seeing nothing. He spoke again, though louder.

"Eighteen? Come on Eighteen. Please, if you want me to give you some time alone, then come and tell me to leave." he spoke louder, deliberately trying to make her hear him. She could have sworn he muttered something after it.

"Then leave." she breathed, knowing he couldn't hear her or even find her. She rolled her eyes, before resting them on her knees, realising that breathing was suddenly hard, that pulsing in her chest was erratic, her hands stung overwhelmingly and bitter tears trailed down her chisled features. She was shaking a lot, her stomach hurt from kami-knows-what. Now that she thought about it, her stomach was killing her. It felt like a stabbing pain in her abdomen, like something had happened to her or injured her there. She barely noticed her fingers tracing her stomach through her shirt. There was an odd textured feeling, like a scar, running under her naval.

The door of the room clicked, footsteps treading across the hardwood floor as the young man approached. Small shadows passed through the bottom strip of light as they walked past the wardrobe. Eighteen held her breath in fright, though not knowing why. He wouldn't find her.

Suddenly, a heavy weight hit the handle of the door in front of her. In a hasty attempt to get away, she scuffled to the other side of the double door wardrobe. The door opened, a wash of light entering afterwards, stinging her unadjusted eyes. Krillen lent in, kneeling in the door way and peering over to her, his features and expression completely unreadable.

"Eighteen…come out." he spoke, his tone suddenly demanding. She noticed a few things, like how his hair was grown out, it looked rather handsome on him. He had a stern look on his face, and his features seemed relaxed around her. Why was he relaxed around her? She was a predator! An android that could destroy the human race with a simple flick of her wrist!

"How did you find me?" she growled, her fists clenching. He blinked, the stern yet still relaxed look still on his face. Like he was unnaturally calm.

"I could feel your energy in here." he murmured disbelievingly. How in the world could he do that? She didn't have a life-source, that's what made it so difficult to track her! Not even cell, the being designed to consume her and absorb her power was able to detect her life-energies. He had to look with his eyes, the only advantage they had against him in such a fight.

"How the fuck did you do that?" she snarled. He smiled slightly, his hand suddenly raising. For some unknown reason, she flinched, pressing herself into the wall with a sudden fear that he was going to hit her. He pulled back a bit, hesitating before his hand continued to come closer. It was going for her chest, and for a brief moment, a mix of disgust and anticipation welled within her. What the heck, was she lusting for him?!

She gasped as his hand stopped a breath-away, before pressing against her chest where the pounding was, making it increase from it's steady pace. She closed her eyes, finding the warmth of his hand on her chest soothing as he made no move to press his hand lower, surprisingly to her dissapointment.

"By sensing for this." he whispered, crawling on his knees so that he was beside her. Her eyes opened suddenly, glaring toward him in confusion.

"Sensing for what?" she shot, looking for some sort of explanation in his wide eyes. They were narrowed though, and it was then she noticed that he looked weary. Stress and lack of sleep seemed to be the cause of this, he was shaky in his movements and his breaths were laboured. What was he doing here if he was so exhausted?

Suddenly he answered, snapping her attention to him. How in the world had it strayed? An android was programmed better than that!

"Your heart…" he murmured, leaning foreword and pressing his forehead to hers. His eyes were closed, hers open and staring at him in shock and confusion. This human was touching her! Why wasn't she mad! Why weren't her defensive reflexes activating! Why in the world was this 'heart' beating so fast?! Why, why, WHY?!

Krillen opened his eyes, staring directly towards her. This close, even though the light on this side of the wardrobe was minimal, she could see a glistening of moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes. He was crying, why? And what the hell was he shaking for?

Why was he so close…why couldn't he keep the hell away from her right now?

"Why can't you get the fuck out of my life?" alright, that sounded a bit more harsh than she meant, but still effective. He merely blinked, though she could see the look in his eyes. The words may have come from her, but they hurt him. For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to think that it was a 'good' thing.

"Please, Eighteen, come back to Capsule Corp. Marron's terrified, everyone else is freaking out. Please…" he pleaded. Eighteen narrowed her eyes back at him, frowning. Who was Marron?

"…Marron…" she murmured.

Suddenly, her head hurt as images of a little girl were recalled into her mind. She was blonde, had blue eyes just like herself. She had a certain appeal of Krillen to her childish features, and her innocent and naïve expressions were suddenly replaced. The previous ones had been slightly fuzzy, small details were missing which was strange for a computer. Androids could usually recall a person's profile instantly. These ones were so recent that they were almost too realistic. The little girl, bloody nosed, face one of fear and anguish, twisted and contorted as tears streaked her face. Then…

They were gone…

And for some unknown reason, she tried to recall the images back again. Her heart fluttered violently as her breathing started to quicken. She felt as though she was going to hurl. Those images brought something back, a sense of abandonment and guilt. It touched something within her, igniting a flame of protectiveness that surged through her veins like liquid fire.

She slammed her back against the hardboard backing of the wardrobe, pressing herself away from him. She clenched her fists as her eyes slid shut and her jaw set. She tried to keep from screaming, but when Krillen touched her arm, she felt herself give in to all odds.

"Where is Marron?!" she wailed, more tears streaming down her cheeks. She tried to activate her scanners to search for this unknown little girl, nothing happened. In distress, she felt a scream tear from her throat as she kicked the closed door before her from it's hinges. Krillen beside her flinched, but she took no notice, only screaming out more words. "Where is she?! WHERE IS MY BABY!!!" she demanded.

Turning on Krillen, she was completely ready to hit him. Their eyes met, and she seen something that she never thought she would see from him. Fear. Krillen feared her!

_Krillen…feared…her…_

Those words struck a fear within herself. It was as though a switch had been pulled, and her mood pulled a complete one-eighty on her. The look of pure horror on his face made her suddenly melt with guilt and self-pity. Fear that he was scared of her. It was nothing she had meant to do, but that look of terror was still on his features.

What had she done?

Suddenly, the urge to hurt him and demand where the child was, or so she had so dignantly referred to as her 'baby', it was all gone. Her slender arms found themselves wrapped around him, pulling herself against his chest as she settled her anguished screams. She sobbed against his red shirt, noticing how he didn't hesitate to hold her. He didn't hate her, thank kami.

"There now Eighteen, calm down, it's alright…" he lulled, hands smoothing circles across her trembling back. They threaded through her hair, before pulling her face up into the light. Tears and blood smeared across her skin. Her bottom lip quivered as she seen the fear still in his eyes. It was a different type of fear, but still fear.

"Why…" she croaked, voice hoarse from yelling and screaming like she never knew she could. She thought her voice-box wasn't designed to make noises that loud. Her voice was usually lax and designed to make people feel a chill when she spoke to them. It was carefully constructed, a voice of a killer. But now, she sounded like a weak earthling…

"Why what, Eighteen?" he asked. She noticed something, whenever he called her that, he hesitated as though thinking over what he should be saying to her. Her name or something else. She mentally brushed it off, she had enough to deal with.

"Why are you here? Why do you fear me so?" she breathed, burying her head in his chest once again. She felt him sigh a sort of relief, his tense muscles relaxed, though hers didn't. She felt her fingers knotting around themselves as her hands felt cold, trembling with something akin to unease and exertion.

"I'm afraid for you…afraid you wont remember…" he murmured into her hair. The movement sent chills down her spine and she was sickened with herself for feeling that. It was almost as though the gesture was _'pleasurable'_, though there was no reason for it to be.

"Wont remember what?" she asked, her voice slightly unsure, well, more than slightly. Krillen flinched, eyes closed as he shook his head rapidly. His hands flew to his hair, the words lost to her ears as she watched his panicked display.

"no…no, please no!" he pleaded. It was then she seen the sparkle of tears on his cheeks, finally breaking free. She felt her stomach wrench when she seen them.

"Krillen? Are you a-alright?" she stuttered, mentally smacking herself for tripping over her words like an earthling.

"I…Eighteen I should explain this at Capsule Corp. Trunks and Goten wont be able to keep Marron calm forever." Krillen mumbled. Eighteen's eyebrows raised and she stayed silent. At the mention of Marron, she felt herself twitch, but the other two names eluded her though one seemed familiar. Then it hit her.

"Trunks? You mean the purple-haired fighter we never knew about?" she questioned, though her voice wavered, her thoughts still on the blonde girl.

"You…you really did forget didn't you?" Krillen sobbed, arms moving around himself. She was tempted to comfort him, but held back no matter how much she wanted to hold him. She almost gagged at the sentimentality of her thoughts. She raised her hand, about to rest it on his head when something glinted on her finger, catching her eye.

"What-What's this?" she asked, accidentally repeating the first word. She was going to mentally smack herself again but she forgot to, still entranced by the shiny ring on her left hand. In was on the second-last finger, the human's called it the 'ring-finger' or the 'wedding-finger' as far as she could remember. She never remembered wearing anything other than earrings and a necklace. What was it doing here.

She jumped when another hand grabbed hers, bringing it down into the light more. Krillen slid the ring off her finger and she suddenly felt lost without it, as though he just took something from her, like that girl. Like her _daughter_…

Suddenly the picture snapped together, she flinched back, pressing herself against the far wall this time. Krillen took no notice as he looked on the inner side of the ring, looking for something. Eighteen stuttered in her thoughts, she was married and had a daughter! Who the hell was her husband, it had better not be seventeen or she'd kill herself, she'd never marry her own brother even though Gero had suggested it once or twice.

Krillen held the ring in the light, motioning for her to take a look. Against her conscience, she crawled foreword, taking the ring between her index finger and thumb. In the light, she could see an engraving in the inside of the ring. It read:

_~ Never to part my love, Krillen ~_

Her eyes widened as she looked toward him in shock. For some reason, she didn't feel herself protesting at all. Thoughts rushed through her mind at a hundred-miles-per-minute. When had they gotten married? Was Marron theirs? How many times had the done 'it'? Did Seventeen know?

Was this all a joke…

"You lost it." Krillen said. At first, she took it offensively and gripped the ring tightly, the metal cutting into her already wounded skin.

"What did you say?" she snarled. He looked up at her, tears running freely down her cheeks and suddenly, she felt her mouth close automatically as she listened.

"We were arguing over my old girlfriend, Marron, whom I never told you about. She showed up, you see, and kissed me in front of you. We were at Capsule Corp then, it was Trunks's birthday, he just turned seven." at this he paused, Eighteen's eyes disbelieving. "Trunks is the son of Bulma and Vegeta, the Trunks you are thinking of was Mirai, not the same Trunks. Goten is the second son of Goku and a year younger than Trunks." he informed, purposely leaving out the information on the blonde child.

"Go on…" she spoke surprisingly, wanting to hear the rest of it. She swallowed thickly, a foul taste in her mouth ever since Krillen mentioned another woman kissing him.

"Marron, my old girlfriend, as I said kissed me in front of you. Then you stormed off, and I told her that you and I were married now and already had a daughter. She was distressed, and followed me when I took off after you. She stood and watched as you argued with me at the top of the stairs. It was so painful, I was there the whole time trying to stop you from hurting her and she was just standing there instead of leaving and making it easier, you started claiming that I was protecting her instead of you. Do you know how much it hurt then?"

Eighteen shook her head, her fists clenched against one another. Krillen took a sharp breath that no doubt hurt his throat when he took it. She shivered when she seen the stress-vein start to visibly show on his forehead.

"I couldn't take it anymore. I stood by and let you get past to her. Marron freaked out, and was about to run away when the door behind her opened, slamming into her. It wasn't Chichi's fault, she heard yelling and came out to check on everyone. When the door struck Marron, she fell into you. I couldn't react fast enough. You tumbled over the edge of the railing!" Krillen cried, anguished. He blamed himself, she could see it in his eyes. "We were at the top of the staircase then, so you tumbled down three flights of stairs before going over yet another railing. You fell down the last ten or so meters of sheer drop and straight to the bottom of the marbled floor in the foyer."

"Wha…I mean…" she gasped, knowing he didn't hear her.

"You fell down seven stories all up, you broke your neck by the second, your spine in six places by the third. You…" he took a deep breath, before continuing, not meeting her eyes. "…your miscarriage didn't happen until the end of the fall where you landed on your stomach. Before that you had managed to keep it well protected. You were seven months along, Eighteen, and Marron knew that when she said those things that made me stand aside instead of protecting her from you. Had I not stood aside and I had just ignored what Marron was saying instead, you wouldn't have lost the child." Krillen muttered, remorse seeping through his voice.

"What happened then?" she asked, almost mechanically. Krillen looked up at her, fear in his eyes once again. He didn't want her to hate him, he wanted her to love him. But she could tell he felt as though he didn't deserve it.

"You were dying, Eighteen. They managed to get the fetus out of you before it killed you. But your injuries sustained included internal bleeding, broken spine and neck, skull fracture, punctured lungs and a burst organ somewhere in your body. Bulma found out that most of your body was an organic structure, you had most things a normal human had but you were still an android. You were still programmed." he stated, looking toward her. Her face was void of emotions, she was just listening intently. Waiting for something.

"Please…I need to know Krillen…"she asked, begged practically. Krillen nodded, continuing the retelling.

"Bulma wouldn't have been able to save you in time, Dende couldn't heal you. We had no idea what to do, until Chichi suggested the dragon balls. They would have taken longer to find though. That was when Vegeta mentioned the Namekian dragon balls. Piccolo communed with Kabito-kai and he used Instant Transmission to get us from Earth to Namek. We are granted three wishes when the villagers allowed us to use them. We used the first to heal your fatal injuries. We tried to use the second to bring the child back, but Purunga said it was a natural death, a miscarriage. Being stuck with two wishes and an impatient dragon isn't the best thing in the world. That was when I remembered something." Krillen spoke.

Eighteen clenched her fists harder when she heard the child couldn't be saved. A maternal instinct within her flared and for a moment she actually considered blaming Krillen. She could almost despise herself for even thinking that. Krillen noticed she was tense, and he shot her a look that asked if she wanted him to stop and tell her the rest later. She shook her head, glaring harshly as tears pricked her eyes once again.

"When you and I first got together, you had some serious doubts. You always picked fights with me, trying to provoke me to see something in you that wasn't there. You wanted me to leave you because you knew you couldn't. Then I found out you were insecure. You thought that you couldn't match up to any other woman because you weren't real, even though you were real enough for me. I think that's what made you so mad when Marron entered the fray. You must have always had that doubt, and didn't want to listen to reason. You wanted to be human."

Krillen looked over to Eighteen, who seemed to have handled everything rather well for someone who was just told something that would have anyone else in a state of breakdown. Hell, he was worse than she was. Then again, he remembered it. It was a lot worse than he was making it sound. He was trying his best to keep it brief, the others and probably himself would fill her in on the little details later on.

"So that was the next wish, and it took up both because the dragon said one wish didn't have the power to do so. Although Shenlong wasn't able to make you human, Purunga is the original dragon, his powers exceed that of Earth's dragon. You were out for days, Eighteen. Days. It was almost a week when you finally woke up. You couldn't remember anything from after cell, for some reason. Not even Marron. When you seen her, you hurt her. Goten was the first on the scene. He's six years old, and he managed to catch your attention. You almost killed him, had I arrived seven seconds later he would have died. Trunks was hysterical after that, it took Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha and Gohan to hold him back. When I was giving Goten a senzu bean and while Bulma and Chichi were treating our Marron, you took off. Bulma said your memory would be selectively choppy for the next couple of hours and you probably wouldn't remember any of it."

"Krillen…I…I hurt Marron…" she murmured, as though in a daze. Krillen watched, it was the first thing other than a stoic expression he had seen since he started explaining everything.

"I didn't follow you, and because you were human I could track you right here. That's basically the whole thing." Krillen spoke softly. Eighteen looked at him now, tears in her eyes as she spoke, her voice trembling.

"I…I hurt…I hurt our Marron, Krillen…what kind of monster harms their own daughter?!" she screamed, diving into his awaiting arms. Krillen soothed her as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"Eighteen…I love you." he murmured. That was it, the switch. Everything came to her as though a floodgate had been opened. Memories and thoughts all hit her like a train off the tracks at the time, making her cringe when she seen everything all over again. The fall, she had never liked falling. Descent while in the air was always a scary experience for her. Those words from Krillen's mouth made her twist into something strange, something human.

"Kami Krillen, I love you too, I-I'm so sorry!" she cried, sobbing in his arms. She could tell he was smiling down at her, and she would get him for that later. But for now, she just wanted; no, needed; to be held right now.

Tears only came more and more as she held tighter, not wanting to let go. She could feel herself being lifted and a slight warmth touch her skin as they left the dark wardrobe, out into the sunlight that seeped through the window that had been boarded up. Dust rose around them, swirling as Krillen carried her into the light more. Her feelings, they were just as overloaded as her senses. She wanted to slap him and yell at him for no reason at all, just as she wanted to hold tighter and cry harder.

Raising her head from his chest, she stared straight at him. His eyes were softened as they looked at her, warm love swimming in the depths of his large eyes. They jumpstarted something within her as she felt her eyes glide toward the ring on her finger once again.

"_Never to part, my love" his voice whispered while the priest's back was turned. The woman in the white dress trailing on the floor beside him shifted her wide-eyed gaze to him. He turned to look at her, noticing her glistening blue eyes staring at him. He smiled, giving her hand a squeeze as he glanced at the church full of people behind him. "I mean it Eighteen, not even death can keep me away from you." _

"_Krillen…I…" she murmured, before realising her tongue was unable to form the words. She simply smiled, squeezing his hand in return, turning back to the minister-priest with a smile on her face, watery eyes glittering in the chandelier light. _

"_I love you, Eighteen." he murmured when the minister started babbling on about holy matrimony. _

It was right about then that she understood, and right about then that she looked up, hands going to the back of his head and pulling him down to meet their lips together in the kiss she had been wanting to give since he first showed up that day, and now she could and was. All these strange things that were happening to her, all these emotions. It was because she was no longer the mechanical predator, she was finally human…

… finally free…

She had never, ever thought that he would be the kind of person to love her wether she was going to beat him to death or not. What was she going to do with herself, it was as though she was falling apart in his arms. The only thing keeping her together was her will and desire to be held by him, to see their daughter again.

… finally human …

And she'd never forget who to thank for it. This man holding her now, the one who had stuck by her no matter what the odds, the one who would never purposely hurt her. The one who had given her a child and a husband, the one who gave her love. Wether or not he wanted her to be human, he made the wish for her and only her. He didn't do it because _he_ wanted to, but because she herself wanted to.

… finally able to love …

She loved him and he loved her. There was nothing stopping that now, and not even Vegeta could say anything about it. And to prove that they were able to love before any of this ever happened, they had their daughter, Marron. Of whom was named after the very person who's presence brought them to this. No matter how much it hurt her to realise she had harmed their daughter, she knew she could make up for it. Because that's what a mother does.

That's what a wife does.

* * *

_~`;'~_

_Written by Myurra-Kitty_

_aka_

_Ashleigh_

_~`;'~_

**R&R**


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